TheStudentNewspaperofWorcesterPolytechnicInstitute IceCats defeat B ea rs.... 3 Music Reviews!............ 4 This Week in H isto ry.... 7 T u e sd a y,
N o v e m b e r
19,
V o lu m e
1 996
T w e n ty - fo u r,
N u m b e r
T w e n ty - o n e
349 Perish in India: Third deadliest air disaster ever Saudi Arabia Airlines Boeing 747 and a Kazakh Ilyushin IL-76 collide in mid-air by Jason O. Papadopolous News Editor
World’s ten deadliest air disasters
A ll 349 passengers aboard a Saud i Arabia A irlines Boeing 747 and a Kazakh Ilyushin IL-76 died last Tuesday when the airplanes collided in mid air. The Saudi plane had just taken o ff from the Indira Ghandi International Airport, New Delhi heading for Dhahran, Saudi Arabia, and the Kazakh plane was making a landing ap proach. The death lo ll makes this the third deadliest air disaster (see table). The planes collided near Dadri, a town east o f the Indian capital, with a popula tion o f 50,000. The Saudi plane had been in the air for only seven minutes when it was asked by air con trollers to rise to 15.000 feet. At the same time the approach ing Kazakh plane was asked to descend to 14.000 feet when the accident occurred at 6:40pm on Tuesday, 12th November. A U .S . A ir Force pilot commandeering a C - 141 cargo plane on approach to the New Delhi airport witnessed the accident from just below 20,000 feet, about fifty miles northwest of the Indira Ghandi Interna tional A irp o rt described the exploding planes as “ two fireballs that descended and became fireballs on the ground” . A n other eye-witness, an Indian building con-
1. 27th March, 1977: 582 were killed when two Boeing 747s operated by Pan American and K L M collided a' the airport on Tenerife in Spain’s Canary Islands. 2. 12th August, 1985: 520 were killed when a Japan Air Lines Boeing 747 crashed into a mountain on a domestic flight. 3. 3rd March, 1974: 346 were killed when a Turkish DC-10 crashed northeast of Paris. 4. 23rd June, 1985: 329 were killed when an Air-India Boeing 747 crashed off the coast of Ireland; investigators concluded that a bomb caused the crash. 5. 19th August. 1980: 301 were killed in Fiery emergency landing of a Saudi Arabian L-1011 jet at the airport in the Saudi capital of Riyadh. 6. 3rd July, 1988: 290 were killed when an Iran Air A300 Airbus was shot down by
tractor said, “ I saw fireballs and big black smoke about three or four kilom eters from my house falling into the fields,” According to a senior aviation official, there is evidence thal one o f the two planes swerved just before the collision. “ From all accounts it was not a head-on collision.
The Social Web: Your complete source of campus and community information! by G reg Snoddy Student Activities Office As a new member o f the W P I com mu nity, I ’ve been introduced to a tremendous source of information on the academic and social activities occurring at W P I, and soon at all consortium schools — The Social W eb! The potential is so great, I want to make sure the W P I community is aware of this wonderful resource. Developed by Troy Thompson, a W P I graduate and member of the College C om puter Center, and supported by the C iv il Engineering Department’s web server, the Social W eb can aptly be called the onestop academic and social gathering place. This is where you can find out about cam pus and consortium lectures, meetings, films, social gathering, and other opportu nities for involvement both on and o ff cam
T
a
b
l
e
o
N ew s ................................................. 2 Sports ............................................. 3,9 Arts & Entertainm ent......................... 4 W riting C enter .................................. 6 West Street H o use .............................. 6 Student Alum ni Society ................ . 6
f
pus. The benefits o f this web page are ter rific... all of us have the opportunity and ability to advertise our activities, thereby gaining free and easy publicity! W ith all the activities occurring on cam pus everyday, this page should be packed — you can look and see what is happen ing today, or this week. Yet, at this time, few are taking advantage o f this excellent publicity. The Student A ctivities Offices encourages all members o f the campus co m m u n ity to v is it the page at http:// cee.wpi.edu/Social on a daily basis; w e’re going to post as many academic and social events we are aware of! In clo sin g let me say that Satu rd ay evening brought to W P I and the 10th A n nual Pops Concert, featuring members of our local and campus community. The con cert was well attended, highly enjoyable, and... posted on the Social W eb!
C
o
n
t
e n
t
The World's 10 deadliest air disasters
U SS Vincennes over the Persian Gulf. 7. 25th May, 1979: 273 were killed when an American Airlines DC-10 crashed on take off in Chicago. 8. 21st December, 1988: 270 were killed, including 259 people on the plane and 11 on the ground when a Pan Am Boeing 747 crashed in Lockerbie, Scotland; a terrorist bomb was blamed for the crash. 9. 1st September, 1983: 269 were killed when a Korean Air Lines Boeing 747 was shot down by a Soviet fighter after flying through Soviet airspace near Sakhalin Island. 10. 26th April, 1994: 262 were killed when a China Airlines A300-600R Airbus ex ploded and burned during an aborted landing in Nagoya, Japan. Com piledfrom an Associated Press report.
There are indications o f banking by one of the planes, p o ssib ly to get out o f the other’s w ay,” the official said. “ W e w ill not spare any culprit” if any individual was to blame, Prime Minister H.D. Deve G ow d a said. India launched an o ffi cial investigation and the M in istry of C iv il Aviation has named a team o f four to con duct the investigation and submit a report by February 15. “ U ntil the report is a v a il able, it cannot be said whether it was fail ure of pilots or the air traffic control,” he told reporters. On W ednesday in ve stig a tors pulled the last o f four black boxes from the s c a tte re d w r e c k a g e o f the tw o planes. “ They look damaged, but we ex
pect the insides to be safe and secure,” said Indian D irector o f A ir Safety V .K . Chandna. The U S Em bassy in India said that two women aboard the Saudi plane were U .S . citizens, and British officials reported that there was one British woman aboard the flight. Appart from about thirteen Sau d i’s on the plane the rest of the more than 300 people aboard were Indians traveling to Saudi Arabia for jobs or to visit Islam ic H o ly sites. An o fficial from K a z A ir said that pas sengers onboard the chartered jet included several Kazakh businessmen traveling from Kazakhstan to India.
Consortium van rams parked car
s
Academ ic H onesty ..............................7 Today in H isto ry ................................ 7 Club C o rn e r .................................. 8, 9 C lassified s ....................................... /1 C om ics ............................................ I I Police Ijo g ....................................... 12
------- -----------— —----------- —
N EWSPEAK R L E PHOTO
A Worcester Consortium van backed into this faculty member's car at a high rate of speed in a parking lot a couple of weeks ago. This incident has raised questions about the safety of the Consortium vans and their drivers.